The Oakland port workers' strike, which seems to have advanced their goals, leaves a line of trucks unable to reach the port from Middle Harbor Road.

The Oakland port workers' strike, which seems to have advanced their goals, leaves a line of trucks unable to reach the port from Middle Harbor Road.

Photo: Laura A. Oda, Associated Press

Nudity ban's bottom line: genitalia

1 / 2

Back to Gallery

It may have seemed like a done deal, but before San Francisco supervisors OKd the new nudity ban Tuesday, they had to massage it to conform to some unique city politics.

Beginning with the sentiment that not all public nudity is bad.

"It has its place," said the nude ban author, Supervisor Scott Wiener. "We're just trying to chart some kind of middle path."

That has resulted in some pretty entertaining rationalizations.

For starters, the idea behind the ban is to protect children from the shock of seeing genitalia. Yet the ban exempts some very public events with politically powerful constituencies, such as the Pride Parade and the Folsom Street Fair.

"People at these events expect to see nudity," Wiener said. "You can choose to go or not go. It's not 365 days a year in a neighborhood."

Fashion also played a role in the legislation, with bare butts being exempted as well.

"This legislation is really about genitals," Wiener said. "I'm not looking to get anyone arrested because they are showing a plumber's crack or wearing a bikini."

Some questions, however, remain unresolved. For example, bare-bottom cowboy chaps are acceptable - but what happens when the bare buttocks bend over?

To be determined.

"Like I said, we're trying to chart a middle path," Wiener said.

Port play: When workers walked off their jobs Monday night at the Port of Oakland for a 24-hour strike, their goal was to push management back to the negotiating table before an independent arbitrator forced a labor deal on them they didn't like.

With talks at an impasse after 16 months, the two sides are scheduled to go before an arbitrator at the end of the month.

Castelli noted that going before an arbitrator is always a roll of the dice - an unfavorable ruling can allow the port to then impose a contract the union wouldn't like.

Now, apparently with the union-friendly mayor's backing, the sides will resume talking within days.

Quan spokesman Sean Mahersaid the mayor's goal "flat out was to keep the port running."

The port is staying mostly mum, referring us to a joint statement with the union in which acting Executive Director Deborah Ale Flintsaid, "The port is committed to reaching a mutually agreeable contract, as soon as possible."

Off the field: To hear UC Berkeley officials tell it, poor player performance in the classroom was every bit as important as the football team's 3-9 record last season in the university's decision to fire coach Jeff Tedford.

"We love to win, but it can't be at any cost," said university spokesman Dan Mogulof.

The Bears had a 48 percent graduation rate for football players who entered school in 2005 - lowest in the Pac-12 conference and dismal compared with rival Stanford's 90 percent graduation rate.

Cal's academic performance was so bad that the school faced the possibility that the NCAA would suspend its eligibility for bowl games, a major source of revenue for teams with even mediocre records.

There is a bit more to Tedford's firing than that, however, and it isn't quite as high-minded as concern for linebackers' academic success.

The university just spent $320 million rebuilding Memorial Stadium, with a new high-performance training center. So far, however, the school has hit only about 55 percent of its $273 million seat sales goal.

The university is also on the hook for $10 million in interest next year, and slightly more for many years to come.

As Steve Gladstone, the former Cal athletic director who hired Tedford, tells us, it's unlikely the coach would have been axed had he been winning - and guaranteeing fans in the seats.

"I don't mean to be disrespectful of the party line, but it always is the performance on the field," said Gladstone, who now coaches crew at Yale.

As it turned out, he said, Cal had "the perfect storm ... four years of (football) mediocrity and a really dismal academic performance."

Latest from the SFGATE homepage:

Click below for the top news from around the Bay Area and beyond. Sign up for our newsletters to be the first to learn about breaking news and more. Go to 'Sign In' and 'Manage Profile' at the top of the page.